Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-07-07
IHE RUSSIAN SERIES
[ Reactionary Movement Having in View
Their Re-Enslavement.

/ A RSacttOn8Ey Movements Having In View
Their Re-Enslavement.
| It is now a quarter of a century since
Russia emancipated $4,000, 900 serfa
There has as yet been no evidence adj
duced that the step was not a wise one.
| The manumitted class has made con-
| siderable intellectual and material pro-
gress. which would not have been pos
sible under the old conditions. So far
as known, the Government has not re-
GREETED its act of mercy. 1t seems,
therefore, all the stranger THAT pro-
iect has been submitted to the council
of the empire for the virtual re-enslave-
ment of millions of Russia peasants.
The exact nature of the scheme has not
been made clear, but if it be carried
out, the class affected will become sub
ject to new functionaries, who will pos
sess the power of inflicting penalties
and imprisonment without the victims
having the right of appeal to any tri-
bunal. Count Tolstoi, who is the orig
inator of the scheme, shows his utter
heartlessness by explaining that neces-
sity has arisen for subiugating the
peasants because they have begun to
realize that they have rights.
1t is probable that a majority
Of the council will vote against
the inhuman plan, but fears are
expressed that the measure may be APP
proved by the Gear. That is not un-
likely. Alexander I'LL, unless he has
been grossly misrepresented, is a fit
agent for re-enslaving the men and
women who were so mercifully freed
by the manifesto of 1861. In connec-
ton with this subject it il worthy of
note that the present year is to witness
the contamination of the emancipa-
ton acts of 1861 and 1866, and that
from this year the peasants of the
crown may hold their land as owners.
By the act of 1861 there was to be no
compulsion upon the owner to sell his
property, but when negotiation had
been entered into between him and his
tenants with regard to such sale, the
only obstacle to satisfactory arrange
ment was a disagreement as to price
and the method of payment, then, on
the demand of the owner. the State
stepped in as final arbitrator.
The tenants formerly serfs of the
WV "OAO CPOSitAAlJ blCoICu ny law
promulgated on the oath of November,
1866. This class was therein privileged
to claim the ownership of the land they
occupied, and the only formality re-
quired was pecuniary payment of
one hundred rubles-a sum it was
not necessary to exceed even when
a commune applied for power to redeem
many parcels of land. The rent was to be
capitalized ut the rate of five per cent
and repaid by annual instaIIments in the
same manner and for the same term as
by the tenants on private lands. credit
being allowed them at the rate of five
per cent. for the initial payment of one
hundred rubles. So far it had been a
question of optional redemption, but in
1881, when eighty per cent. of the peas
ants had become proprietors, it was de- |
creed to enforce the change OF tenure |
upon the remainder; that is to say, to |
make them responsible to the State for |
their yearly payments. 1t was not I'M |
til May, 1885. that the compulsory prin- |
ciple was extended to the tenants of the |
crown, and by a clause of law of that |
date the 31st of December, 1886, was |
named as the day on which the old or |
Her OF things should cease absolutely. |
The change from mutable rent to |
fixed and terminal series of payments |
ought to be to the advantage of the ten /
ants, and so it would seem to be from |
the fact that the operation is expected
to cause a loss to the budget of 4,OOO,-
BOO rubles annually. 1t would certain
ly be most unreasonable for Russia to
adopt the Tolstoi scheme, so wholly at |
with the spirit of emancipa-
ton, and that during the very year
when SO large portion of the once en-
shaved class is just beginning to enter
in the fruition of the new order of
things.-BOsto9s Traveller.